


Of Dates and Journalistic Investigations

by JustAnAvidReader



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Angst, But mostly fluff, Fluff, Getting Together, Investigations, M/M, Superman AU, WinterIron Spring Fling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 17:58:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11064210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnAvidReader/pseuds/JustAnAvidReader
Summary: Tony never thought that, out of everyone, he would end up having a crush on the cashier of the local supermarket. But waht can you do when the man is just so hot, handsome and strong-looking under that shop apron? This is the story of their first date and what happened afterwards.WinterIron Spring Fling 2017





	Of Dates and Journalistic Investigations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hiirokumo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiirokumo/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy your story :D  
> this is my first time writing winteriron. i'm so nervous! Hope I did them justice.  
> It's not beta-ed yet, but I'll come back and check for all the gross errors I know I left there.  
> Prompts:  
> 3\. Modern AU no powers. Bucky works as a cashier at the supermarket Tony frequents. Bucky will switch with other cashiers. Tony notices bucky's laboured breathing. "were you running?"  
> 5\. Superman!bucky and lois lane!tony

 

Tony was having a bad day. Scratch that, he was actually having a terrible year.

Howard had found out about him going to college for a journalism major on a dare from Rhodey who said Tony would never be able to be a decent journalist. Didn't matter at all that Tony kept on splendidly on his day job at Stark Industries and Tony had already graduated by the time his father discovered about the college thing. No, all that mattered was that Tony was wasting time doing something 'useless' and not taking his job seriously - _which, hello, genius here and just advanced prosthetics a hell lot with his last project, he's really not taking his job seriously?_ \- and was bringing shame to the family name and his father reputation.

So he was kicked out, fired - until he groveled to have his job back, again, his father's words - and cut off from the family fortune. Leaving him penniless and homeless.

Tony really should've listened to Pepper regarding his careless expenditure of his salaries and claiming his fair share of his patents and not leaving it for Stark Industries to invest. The amount of money and time it would take to hire a lawyer and claim it now was too bothersome and irritating to consider at present.

Since he was kicked out from home, he stayed at Pepper's and Happy's, then at Rodhey's (when he got back from his last tour) and a short period at Jan’s place, because Pym was too much to deal with, until he got enough money to find a place of his own. He loved his friends, but he yearned for his own space. Though, he really did miss home with Jarvis and his comforting presence and even more comforting food. Not to mention his beloved mother. He had finally been able to get his own place by saving enough money by working at the Daily Planet as an investigative reporter (because he refused working for J.J. Jameson and the Daily Bugle for more than the month he had already and Howard had pretty much blacklisted him on every technology based company that was not Hammer Industries - and Tony would rather starve than work for Hammer. No. Just no.).

So he had found himself a place to live on his own, that was pretty much falling apart. Thankfully Tony discovered himself to be rather handy with maintenance stuff or he would be very much screwed. Sadly, Tony's handy abilities were very limited to the technical part of maintenance and his taking care of his place on his own were rather lacking, making him turn to the internet and phone calls to Jarvis to figure out what the hell he was doing and needed to do.

Hence the terrible year he was having.

At least he was quite good at being an investigative journalist and had landed some pretty good stories on his short career already and even had a photographer of his own, a skinny and slightly awkward kid by the name of Peter Parker he had taken with him when he left the Bugle in a storm. Peter was very much grateful for a more steady income he was getting at the Planet than the shaky freelancing he did for the Bugle, and Tony was happy to have a decent photographer and smart kid (young adult, really) to bounce ideas off and with being his partner in crime, or actually investigating leads and stories, not really crimes.

Things had started to get better though. He was finally getting the hang of taking care of his house (with a lot of Jarvis' help, Pepper's lecturing and Rhodey's exasperated stares), getting more of his articles published - including news on the new superhero nobody was really sure existed because he kept on saving people but no one seemed to give a proper description on the guy - he could now actually cook edible things (not omelets though... they're just too traumatizing) and he found a good supermarket with a super hot cashier he could ogle while he shopped.

The first few times Tony went to said supermarket, where he was at the very moment doing a grocery run, the hot cashier, who went by Bucky - _and what kind of name was Bucky, anyway?_ \- was always the one, coincidentally, to be at the register he was going to check out at. Though, after a few visits (which grew in frequency rather quickly), he noticed how Bucky would magically be, or replace whoever was at, the register Tony was at. Bucky was always very polite, respectful and professional in all their interactions, which was kind of sad, because Tony was eagerly waiting for the day he would respond to his unashamed flirting. At least they were at the stage they were familiar enough they could go over the pleasantries and talk a bit about their personal lives.

It did things to Tony's ego (and crush), though, to have all the attention from such a beautiful man all to himself. It added an extra spring to his step and a tad bit more warmness to his smile, that unbeknownst to Tony as of yet, just made Bucky fall more and more in love with him. But it did bother Tony a little the guy would go to all the trouble of being at the register he was at and never flirted back.

Nevertheless, our intrepid journalist was grocery-shopping, going about his life, and discreetly checking out if Bucky was at the store. Much to Tony's disappointment, and not improving his bad day, he couldn't see his hot cashier anywhere. Sighing disappointedly, he finished his shopping and went to the closest and shortest line so he could go back home. Just as he was putting up the last item to be checked out he looked up and saw an out of breath Bucky in front of him.

"Were you running?" asked Tony, bewildered and amused.

"Good morning, Tony," Bucky said as an answer, with a beautiful if awkward smile as he tried to get his breath under control. "Did you find everything you were looking for?"

"I'm still missing your phone, sunshine" he answered with a wink and a big grin.

Just by the side, he could hear a couple of frustrated groans and slightly muffled 'pathetic' and 'I thought Bucky had game, how much of a loser can he be? They've been at it for ages, Steve!'

' _Bucky blushes so prettily,_ ' thought Tony easing off his grin into a sweet smile and eagerly waited for any answer as Bucky ringed out his items.

"Um... Unfortunately I can't -" Bucky's answer was cut off as Steve, the store manager, and as Tony found out a few visits back, Bucky's best-friend, approached the register.

"Bucky's break is as soon as he finishes ringing your goods up," he stated, gesticulating widely and cheerfully and aggressively smiling. It was bit scary. "He can help you carry your purchases back," he added.

Bucky loudly groaned and looked mortified. Tony was very valiantly holding back his laughter as he watched the scene.

"Punk, stop embarrassing me and offering me up for things that are really not my place to do!" Bucky hissed as he glared daggers at his friends.

"Well, jerk, if you got out of your ass and got all of us out of our misery and frustration at seeing the both of you making googly eyes at each other and not doing anything about it, I wouldn't have to do this," Steve growled, _growled!_ , at his friend, crossing his arms over his chest menacingly, or as menacingly as a 5'4'' tall guy could. “You’ve gotta stop being so self-sacrificing…”

“ _Shut-up_!”

Tony watched the exchange, his eyebrows going up at each word and wondered what they were going on about. His journalist senses were tingling. H did feel rather rejected, though, by Bucky’s reaction.

“Look, no need to fight on my account… I’ll just take my groceries and go,” he said, sighing and offering his card to Bucky so he could pay and leave. So much for improving his day.

Bucky accepted the card and he too sighed, sending a last glare toward his friend. He then half-smiled shyly to Tony and said:

“I’m really due my break right about now, and it would be my privilege to accompany you, if you don’t mind, doll.”

Tony’s breath caught at rearing the endearment once again, he was pretty sure was a slip of the tongue, and smiled back.

“It would be my pleasure.”

And just like that Bucky’s whole countenance lit up. He stood up, picked all of Tony’s grocery in one hand - _and holy cow, how did he do that?_ \- and led Tony out the store, passing a smug Steve on their way, who waved happily at them.

 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

The store wasn’t that far from Tony’s place, but it didn’t mean they weren’t taking their sweet time in getting there. Five minutes after they left the store, Bucky stopped and sheepishly rubert at his neck with his free hand (and Tony was still amazed at how he could carry that much weight with only one hand for that long).

“Look Tony, I’m real sorry about back there.”

“Hey, no problem. I did get to spend some extra time with you out of it,” Tony said gamely, but hiding he was nervous as all hell to finally be able to spend some time with his crush. (Fine, he recognizes it’s an incredibly huge crush. He doesn’t care he’s a grown ass man over the age of thirty who should be past that, he’s gonna like who he likes and how he likes them, and society can suck it up.)

“ ”m glad about it too, even though it didn’t seem like it back there, and for that I’m sorry. I do enjoy meeting you every time you come by the store,” Bucky eagerly added. “And ‘m sorry i don’t flirt back, ‘cos I really wanna, but I turn into the lamest person ever whenever you’re nearby,” he groaned, covering his face with the free-hand.

That sprung a delighted little laugh from Tony and a blush from Bucky in turn.

“It is rather disappointing you never flirt back, but it does things to my ego rearing you say that, darling” he smirked and nudged Bucky forward, so they could head back to his place. As much as he was enjoying spend time with Bucky and talk to him outside of a client-service provider situation, he was really feeling sorry for the guy for carrying all that weight by himself (even though he had insisted in at least carrying a part of it and Bucky’d have none of that).

“Seriously doll, I’m not half bad at flirting in general, but I loose all my game whenever you’re around,” Bucky add then as an afterthought, quietly: “That’s just how much I like ya.”

Tony couldn’t be possibly hearing it right. _Bucky likes him!_ He felt giddy and like he could float away just by being this happy.

Sadly, Tony’s apartment building was just around the corner and their time together would come to an end, and Tony couldn’t possibly have that, not now Bucky was finally showing where his filling were at.

So when they reached the door, Tony took a deep breath and braced himself.

“So, Bucky, would like to come up and have some coffee?”

Bucky hesitated and and Tony felt himself deflate. Of course he couldn’t have nice things. He should give up already and resig-

“I would love to, doll,” his gorgeous crush interrupted his darkening thoughts quickly, making the rush of hope return, “but I really gotta go back to the store. It _is_ only a break. But…”

“Okay... But…?”

“Would you give the honour of going on a date with me?” Came a lopsided smile, and then a groan. “Damnit, this was so lame,” Bucky lamented, covering his face as if trying to hide the embarrassment and the beautiful blush spreading down his face.

Tony laughed happily and felt as if he could conquer the world right that moment (of course, he would get bored and then would have to put Pepper on charge of things and she would kill him because of the amount of paperwork, so better leave that train of thought alone…). He bit his lip, holding the laughter.

“Yeah, I would love going on a date with you, snowflake”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

“Tomorrow night?” A hopeful smile.

“Sounds absolutely lovely,” A gentle step forward.

“Around 7 p.m.?”A hand raised to softly caress a strong jaw.

“Just perfect.” Tony leaned in to the touch.

“There’s this great Italian place not too far from here we could go to.”

“Text me the address and I’ll meet you there.”

“If I’m gonna text ya, I’ll need a phone number.”

With a delighted laugh Tony took his phone out of his pocket and grinned to Bucky. “Smooth. I’m beginning to see the flirt you’ve mentioned. Give me your number so I can text you mine.”

Bucky promptly gives Tony’s his number with a huge smile, Tony not so far behind.

“I should go,” he says, stepping away. “Oh, here’s your grocery.”

Tony grabs his groceries and almost topples over due to the weight of them. He’s rescued from a very undignified fate by strong hand holding and supporting him.

“Careful there, doll.”

“Seriously, how did you manage to hold this much weight one-handed?” Tony rolled his eyes and adjusted his grip on the bags more properly. _Seriously, how the Hell did he do that?_

“It’s a secret you gonna hafta wait to find out.”

“Yeah, yeah, keep your mysteries. I’m gonna discover all of them,” he the mock-threatened, narrowing his eyes playfully.

Bucky froze for a second, which caused bells to ring through Tony’s minds, bringing forth his curiosity. _Curiouser and curiouser._ Recovering quickly, Bucky chuckled - forcedly, if you ask Tony - and stepped back, rubbing at his neck.

“We’ll see.” And as if in an afterthought, quickly leaned forward and pecked Tony’s cheek, retreating quickly to start jogging back to the store. With a huff and a lopsided smile, Tony entered the building, heading to his apartment and already daydreaming about the upcoming date.

 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

Tony’s overthinking this. He’s pretty sure of it. But he also happens to not have anything remotely decent to wear on a date. Sure, his work clothes are all very nice, but they scream ‘ _work!_ ’ and not ‘ _I’m hoping to have a good time and let’s do this again!_ ’.

Groaning, he supported his weight on the wardrobe doors, which in turn groaned due to the added weight. Not caring in the slightest because he could fix it if something happened, he threw his head back and glared at the ceiling as if it was the cause to all his problems.

“Fine!” he snapped at nothing. “Desperate times calls for desperate measures,” he declared as he let go of the doors and strode up to his nightstand in order to call Rhodey. Who did not pick up the phone. Rhodey _should_ ’ve picked up the phone. It doesn’t matter it’s midnight on Baghdad and Tony shouldn’t know Rhodey’s stationed there for the foreseeable future, he had a crisis on his hands and his best friend _was not helping_ matters! “Damn it, sugarbear! I need you,” he whined, throwing himself backwards on his bed, feeling dejected.

It had been a long time since Tony’s last date, despite all the flirting he did. He hadn’t even considered dating since Rumiko until he met Bucky, so he was actually very nervous. What if he screwed everything up by being his usual annoying self? What if Bucky realized what an actual loser he was and decided to be done with Tony halfway through their date?

Covering his face with his hand and giving a long and heartfelt sigh, Tony decided it was time to involve Janet. He needed the confidence boost only she really knew how to do and the assurance she got his back. Honestly, he had no idea where the hell he would be if it wasn’t for her and Pep and Rhodey. Surely still working for his father, being miserable and whoring himself out after he lost Rumiko, that’s for sure. Without the love, encouraging words and total support from his friends, he would’ve never get out of that funk. His mom and Jarvis did help, but there was only so much his family could do, given his father tough ‘love’ approach (though he was very dubious by calling it love…). When Jan had heard about Howard’s few choices words he had bestowed upon Tony about his behaviour a couple of years after Ru’s death, she had had been lived and laid Howard a new one with much gusto. Which was actually how his dad had found out about the whole journalism thing and got him kicked out of the house and jobless. One good thing to come out of it though, was his mom finally standing up to Howard about his actions and decisions. He had heard from Pepper that his father still was on the dog house, mainly because he was still cutting Tony out of Stark Industries and his house.

He smiled ruefully thinking about Janet and her enthusiastic approach to everything. Yeah, Jan would be a good help to settle his mind on this good thing and she would totally sort out his wardrobe problem. He dialed her up and waited for her to pick up, which she did on the second ringing.

“Tony, darling! It’s been to long since you called! How are you? What are you up to? How’s journalism working for you? I saw your article last week about the new hero/vigilante, it was so good. Never doubted you would rock the career!”

Huffing a laugh at the barrage of words, Tony interrupted Jan’s tirade.

“Jan, light of my life, how can a woman so tiny say so much, so fast?”

“Because I’m a package of awesome, hon.”

“That you are. So, answering a few of your questions… I’m fine, work’s fine, thanks. I know you always believed in me.”

“And what are you up to?”

“Nothing gets past by you, does it?” he answered, rolling his eyes, not that Jan could see it, but the sentiment was there. “That’s, uh, actually why I’m calling…?”

“You hesitated! Why did you hesitate! Tell me, tell me!”

“I think you should be the reporter, not me,” he teased, but soon sobered up. “Jan, listen,” deep breath, “I need help…”

Tony couldn’t actually see her, but he could _feel_ her tensing up, gearing for battle.

“Who do I need to kill?”

“No, Jan, nothing like that…” he chuckled and then gulped “It’s, uh… I-kinda-have-a-date-and-I’m-really-nervous-and-I-have-nothing-to-wear-help!”

“OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!” Tony had to get the phone away from his ear - lest he gets deaf by Jan’s high-pitched screams - making a face to the phone. “TONY, I’M SO HAPPY YOU’RE FINALLY GETTING YOURSELF OUT THERE AND YOU HAVE A DATE AND I’LL TOTALLY HAVE A GREAT OUTFIT IN MIND FOR YOU. AND WHO IS SHE AND OH MY GOD!”

“Jan, breath!” he laughed, getting back to excited about his date. “He’s this incredibly sweet and hot guy that works at the market I grocery-shop at.”

“How come you never told me anything about this guy?”

“There was nothing to talk about, ‘til yesterday, when he asked me out…”

“Lies! I know you, you totally gush on the people you like!” she accused him with mock-severity.

“Ugh, fine,” he finally conceded and sat up to properly talk and get excited about the whole thing. “I’ve totally been pestering platypus about Bucky and how hot and dreamy he is and I think that’s why he’s ignoring my calls. So unfair…”

Jan laughed heartily and Tony could almost see she nodding along. “Worry not, my dearest Tony, I, your most incredible and cute friend/knight-in-shining-armor, shall rescue you on your time of need!”they both burst into laughs. Heavens, how he loved Jan and how grateful he was they kept on being friends. And would you look at that, he’s recognizing his feelings! He’s totally growing up. “You’re totally recognizing your awesome feelings for me and being all proud of how far you’ve come, right?”

“How do you do that?” Tony hissed and slumped back on his bed.

“Because I’m incredible and I totally know you. Whatever… So, this date of yours! Where’s it going to be? Type of dress-code? How long ‘til you have to be there?”

“Nice Italian place not far from here, they have great lasagna. Casual-chic? Not really sure… And it’s in an hour-and-a-half?”

“Geez, Tones,” she huffed and he could totally see her annoyed face, “give a girl a warning, will ya. Ok. I’m texting Pepper to get you the perfect outfit already and she’s bringing it to yours right away, and before you complain,” she cut him off before he could complain, “I had her store some fabulous clothes I made you and you would refuse to get them had I give them directly to you and you’re gonna love them.”

“Alright, I admit defeat, my valiant foe and shall wait for Pepper’s triumphing arrival.”

“You’re such a dork. Now Tones, relax, ok? Everything will be fine and if the way you briefly talked about your Bucky is anything to go by, he will be charming and you’ll have a grand time. Go be your dazzling self and get yourself your man, you hear me? Can’t fucking believe I’m out of town on this monumental occasion!”

He smiled, contently. Calling Jan was the right call - heh - and with her reassuring him, he knew things would turn out okay.

 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

Pepper did actually arrive at Tony’s shortly and the outfit she brought was good, damn good - Bucky would be totally be drooling - and she even stayed to gush about his date and help him calm his almost soothed nerves.

Quarter to eight he was ready to go and confident his night would be incredible. With a last good-bye to Pepper, they parted ways and he headed to the restaurant. He got there eight on the dot and saw that Bucky had already arrived, and as soon as his date saw him, the blinding smile that he got was enough to put all doubts he had to final rest. Damn he was so gone on Bucky already.

They exchanged pleasantries and the hostess led them to their table in a cozy little corner. The restaurant had those stereotypical checkered red and green table cloths, dozens of italian sceneries photos and even a duet singing and playing typical italian songs. It should be tacky, but for Tony it was perfect. He had actually been to the restaurant before and completely approved of Bucky’s choice.

They sat, gazing longingly at each other - dear Tesla, they must look ridiculous to the staff, but who cared?- Soon the waiter came and took their wine order, with Bucky insisting Tony choose their wine, insisting Tony probably knew way more about sophisticated things than him, charming Tony even more.

They talked as easily as if they were old acquaintances and laughed and commiserated on annoying bosses and overprotective friends. Tony told him all about his stories on the masked superhero/vigilante to a chagrined Bucky - and wasn’t Bucky’s facial gymnastics to the theme curious - and heard Bucky tell him all about his time at the army, and coming back home one armed and getting himself a prosthetic (which Tony was delighted to discover he had a newer model of the one he had so carefully designed and was improved by his friends Bruce and Helen, who had chosen to not abandon the project once he was fired) he was enjoying immensely and just wanting something easy and not murder-inducing after such a though time. And what a revelation it was to know how stressful working at a supermarket actually was and how he regretted it, even if it did help on the long run to help ground him. Tony  animatedly suggest a change of work and they started listing all types of jobs, that kept getting more creative and weirder at each turn.

Tony couldn’t remember ever having this much fun on a first date and feeling so at ease. Bucky was a wonder and everything he was looking for. He had even made Tony blush, which he thought was nearly impossible, by saying how adorable he found Tony’s excitement when speaking about something he liked. And Bucky even complimented him on his creativity with the nicknames he came up with. Tony praised Bucky in return, telling him how much he enjoy his sweetness, how he was always so polite, how he loved that Bucky was always the one at the register he went to. He wanted to say how much he loved how Bucky was calling him doll, but felt suddenly shy. Bucky seemed to read his mind about the subject as they enjoyed dessert.

“I gotta say ‘m sorry, doll.”

“Whatever for, Buck-a-roo?”

“I kept checking myself and not calling you doll, but now I can see you like it…”

“Yeah,” Tony smiled, eating another bite of his lovely Tiramisu. “I kinda like it a lot”

“I’m not used to throwing myself out there, Tones, but you make me wanna do something crazy.”

“Good, I hope?”

“Yeah,” Bucky said, smirking. “I’m already planning our second date,” and he added a eyebrow wiggle for emphasis.

“Ooooh, so daring…” Tony laughed, delighted. “We’re not even done with this date and you’re already planning our next one?”

“Yep, already figured it out. First we’re gonna go watch a movie, so I have a excuse to get all up in your space in a semi-public setting. Then we’re going dining and dancing.”

Tony was enjoying too much and couldn’t hold himself in check anymore, throwing his head back a laughing to his heart’s content.

“Tesla, you’re such a dork. But do I like your plans.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhm,” confirmed Tony as he finished his delicious dessert, winking at Bucky to show his good humour.

They kept on talking about their plans for a next date, and oh, Tony was so pleased. They had already agreed on a second date! And the first one wasn’t even finished. As their conversation dwindled down to a comfortable pause, they waitress brought the check over and they playfully fighted for whom would pay, deciding they would at least share - and oh boy, was Tony glad someone wanted to treat him to a diner out and not expect him to pay.

They made their out of the restaurant and wordlessly decided on a path to prolong their date. They kept on talking about anything and everything and Tony was ready to invite Bucky over to stay the night, even if they only talked. He just couldn’t fathom the idea of finishing this delightful evening.

However, life had other plans and his phone kept buzzing and buzzing in his back pocket until Tony couldn’t ignore it anymore. With a leary sigh he picked the phone up and saw he had at least 3 missed calls and a dozen texts, all from Peter. And his photographer knew better than to interrupt him.

With an apologetic shrugged, Tony excused himself to check over the text. And he was glad he did.There was a bank robbery happening near Stark Tower and all reporters who were worth their living were heading there, not to mention that a block away a drunk politician was making an scandall about something related to racism. Tony just couldn’t let those stories pass, especially because the robbery might attract the hero/vigilante he was calling Winter Soldier, -because ‘metal-warmed wonder’ JJ Jameson had come up with was just idiotic and Tony refused to abide by that.- and he had been covering the hero’s stories for the last few weeks.

When he looked up and at Bucky, he could see him grimacing. With a sense of dread but also relief, he knew their date had come to an end.

“Listen, Buky-bear, I gotta go. There’re couple of stories that need to be covered and I can’t let that chance scape. I’m so sorry we have to cut our date short.”

“No, I get it,” Bucky sighed, “You’re a up-and-coming reporter an’ I wanna see you succeeding doll.” He stopped to whistle, quite loudly, hailing a cab. “Also, Stevie’s bugging about something or other about our landlord, so I deffo should go and check that,” he shrugged and with a sad half-smile, continued. “I really loved today, doll, and I hope we can do it again very soon.”

“Oh, we’ll most certainly will,” Tony promised as he opened the door of the Taxi that had just arrived. He quickly rattled the address he was going to and turned back to Bucky. “I really loved today too. Thank you.”

“No, thank you, doll,” and he kissed Tony gently on his lips and turned around heading back to wherever his apartment was.

Tony sighed wistfully, entering the taxi and giving himself five minutes to enjoy lingering warmth of Bucky’s lips before he had to focus on his job.

 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

Turns out the politician making a scene is a total bust and Tony is glad he opted to go straight to cover the robbery, that turned out to be a hostage situation. His colleague, Jessica Jones had texted him as he was arriving at the scene and informed him he should cover the bank story because the state senator was pretty much drunk out of his ass and being a racist pig towards a cop that had gone to attend the disturbance call, who happened to be black and a woman and was totally owning the asshole by acting as an exemplary cop and not letting his disgusting opinions get to her. Jess was far better at that type of story than Tony could ever be, so they were both glad with what they got.

Now the robbery, that was a shit storm waiting to happen. Four heavily armed men had invaded the bank just before the employees normally left for the day and were able to hold them hostages with the policing being none the wiser for about 4 hours until some family members, worried about their missing relatives started calling 911 and the situation came to light.

A SWAT team was at the ready, waiting for the O.K. to invade the building and catch the criminals. So far all negotiations had been unsuccessful and the tension was steadily rising. Tony kept himself mostly out of the policy way, but listening to the details and their conversations in order to form the bigger picture and better inform the public on the morning paper. Trish Walker was there as well covering the big news for tv, but so far almost no other reporters were present. Well, Christine Everhart was there, but if Tony could avoid her, he damn well would.

After a while of nothing changing, Peter came back from taking pictures and approached Tony to show them to him.

“Hi Mr. Carbonell, good to see you,” he greeted with an awkward wave. “Wish the circumstances were better though. So far nothing on the Winter Soldier,” and Trisha seemed to hear him, as she transmitted the news, furthering Tony’s choice of name out - suck on that Jameson!- “And here, look at the pictures. I was actually able to get some images of the criminals!”

Tony lightly perused the pictures, humming his acknowledgment of Peter’s words as he passed them. Until he saw something that made his blood turn into ice. He was so shocked and focused on a picture showing one of the bad guys weapons he actually missed the commotion of their resident hero arriving. He gulped, feeling cold sweat break out through his body. He tightened his hold on the camera as he was afraid to drop due to how hard his hands were shaking. Breathing was getting harder and harder. This could not be happening. Right before he had been sacked from SI, Howard had guaranteed him weapons production were gradually stoping and only the government had any of their guns still. It had been a big deal between them and their vision for the company. So how in Hell those criminals had Stark weapon with them?

It took a while for the buzzing in his ears tone down and when it did he finally could hear Peter calling him for what looked like a while.

“ -nell, are you ok? Tony, come on, can you hear me?” he sounded distressed.

“Yeah, yeah Pete, sorry. I’m listening. What is it?” Tony gulped, trying to regulate his breaths so he could calm down.

“You sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah, just saw something that shouldn’t be possible?”

“You mean, the Soldier? Cos I’m pretty sure everybody can seen him right there,” he turned to the bank’s  side door, pointing at their masked hero.

“Holy shit, how did I not see him coming?”

“You were kinda completely spaced out, Mr. C. Took me a couple of minutes to get you responsive. Are you sure you’re ok? You’re looking awfully pale…

“I’m fine Pete. Here, take your camera and take some good shots of our hero. I’m gonna text Jess to come cover us,” Tony declared urgently, impatiently crossing his arms and started a nervous tapping on his arms. He could feel his palms sweating and his heart beating faster and faster. They had to get further into the weapons business A.S.A.P. Taking a deep breath, he uncrossed his arms and texted.

_T: Please come cover us at the robbery!!!_

_J: What the hell for?_

_T: We gotta leave here NOW!_

_J:Fine. But u owe me big, Stark! Be there in 5._

_T: Yea yea. Tnks._

_T: Also, see if u can snoop anything up about the weapons they using._

“Pete, rap up, we gotta leave now.” _  
_ “What do you mean?!” the boy asked, bewildered. He was gaping at Tony as if he had grown a second head. “What about the Soldier? You’ve been covering his every story so far…”

Shit, Peter was just a kid and Tony was pretty sure he was gonna drag them both to a pretty shitty and dangerous situation, because he knew his sense of self-preservation was shot to hell and he knew he had to get to the bottom of that story, no matter what.

“This is way bigger than the soldier, and Jess’s coming to cover for us. Let’s go.”

With a put-upon-sgh, Peter took a last picture of the situation and turned to follow Tony’s hurried steps down the street. When they finally arrived at their destination, Stark Tower, Peter tried to ask what were they doing there and was rudely shushed by Tony. With one look he reporter gestured for Peter to follow him, keeping quiet to a side entrance not many people new about.

Putting to use his olds breaking and entering skills (he had picked up when he was young and utterly bored and stuck at boarding school) as well as all his knowledge regarding this building security,, Tony finally eases their way in, being mindful of all the cameras he knows are there. They only got one chance at this and he’s not going to lose it. They have to make it to either Howard’s or Obie’s office if can have any hope of figuring out what the hell is going on. Peter, thankfully, was following him quietly and paying attention to every little detail, camera and phone at the ready for any emergency.

They make their way to the service stairs and start climbing them. Tony knows this set is pretty much devoid of surveillance cameras and takes the chance to talk to his partner.

“Listen, Pete,” he whispered, “those photos you took, in one of them i could see something that shouldn’t be there. And yes, smartass, I know the criminals shouldn’t be there, “Tony added, rolling his eyes, effectively shutting Peter up. “The weapons. They are Stark weapons and they shouldn’t, by any means, have them at all.”

Peter’s eyes opened comically wide and he held back a very loud gasp. “But only the government should’ve access to them!”

“Exactly, underoos. So we’re gonna go up the big offices, hack into their systems and figure out what the hell is going on.”

“But, but.. That’s illegal, Mr. C!”

“Yeah, normally, but I _am_ a Stark, and I still have access, backdoor as it is, to most of this even though I was sacked… So…”

“You’re a Stark?! You’re Tony _Stark_!” the shock in Peter’s voice would be very funny if it wasn’t so frustrating.

“What kind of reporter are you?” he huffed, getting angry. Angry was good, it meant the panic was being replaced and he could work with angry. “Carbonell’s my mother maiden name. I took when I started working as a reporter so people wouldn’t assume I was under Howard’s thumb…”

“Oh, ok. Wow,” Peter was very clearly gobsmacked, which actually brought a smile to Tony’s face. “I totally your work on green energy, and the prosthetics you, Doctor Banner and Doctor Cho developed, wow. Mr. C, er… I mean, Mr. S… er-

“Tony.”

“Tony, is so incredible. Wow. I actually am acquainted to one of my heroes. Wow.”

Tony bashfully smiled, he was no longer used to that kind of recognition for his engineering and sciencing work anymore, so hearing Peter talk like that about him made the tight knot on Tony’s chest loosen a bit.

“Relax, kid. Once we get through what the hell is happening here we can talk about that, ok?”

“Sure thing, Mr. Star- er, Tony.”

Taking a deep breath Tony centered himself in order to plan their next steps. They had to be quick, while the commotion about the robbery was still drawing attention. First thing, they had to get to Howard’s office. That was easy. Next, they had to hack into the system  see if they could find anything, then, they actually had to get the material and get the hell out of dodge, without being seen. The last part would be trickier, since the Soldier was now involved on the robbery, things would get resolved quickly and it would look hell of a lot suspicious two people sneaking out of Stark Tower in the middle of the night.

Gathering himself with a deep breath, he clasped his hands together and laid his half formed plans to Peter.

“Okay, so here’s what we’re gonna do. We’ll go up this flights of steps till the third floor,” and start doing that, leaving Peter to follow him. “We’re gonna be absolutely quiet. No sounds unless utterly necessary. On the third floor, there’s a faulty camera there, we’re gonna hop into the service elevator and go all the way up to main maintenance floor. There we can get to Howard’s secret escape elevator and reach his office. Once we’re there, I want you hiding and with your camera at the ready. I'm not risking you unless absolutely necessary. Understood?

“Yes, sir! But, what about all the other cameras and alarms and stuff?”

“Don’t worry about it. I actually helped design the electronic security system, so I know how to access it from the service elevator. Luckily I always carry with me a good flash drive, so _if_ we find anything, we can get it.”

“But Tony, if we get caught we could go to jail, big time,” Peter whispered worried and looking around them every new step he took.

“Look, underoos, here’s the thing. I don’t care that my father’s a jackass and cut me off until I come crawling. This company is part of my legacy as much it’s his and I was involved here for as long as I can remember. If something nasty and illegal is going on, I have an obligation to stop it. My name is on the damn wall and that makes it _my_ responsibility.”

Peter sighed and resigned himself to continue committing a crime. “I get it, Mr. St,-Tony. With great power comes great responsibility and all that. Ok. I’ll help any way I can.”

Tony smiled warmly and clasped Peter on the shoulder to reassure him. “That’s the spirit. No rush,because once we re=enter these corridors there’s a lot alarms we gotta be careful about. Ready?”

With a weary nod from Peter, they ventured forward.

 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

They made their way up to Howard’s office without ever being stopped and never triggering any alarms. Tony was busing cracking his way through the firewall and all systems securities. He knew that if he wanted to find anything he would have to dig deep. He slotted his flash drive into a port to be on the ready and as a precaution, he let a security camera feed at the corner of the screen to check if anyone was coming up to where they were.

Peter busied himself with finding a good hiding spot, in case he needed, as Tony basically ordered him to do. He also let his camera at the ready in case he needed it, but so far nothing.

Tony could feel the kid vibrating in excitement as he buzzed around the office. He quickly averted his eyes from the screen to get Peter’s attention.

‘Good hiding spot’ he mouthed, pointing at a high corner on the wall , where a ventilation vent sat. ‘It’s a secret escape door… you have to be Howard to be able to escape from there, though...’

Peter nodded with enthusiasm, all worries about illegal actions forgotten as he made his way to examine the vent.

Tony huffed good naturedly and got back to work. It had to be around here somewhere. What the hell could Howard be thinking to be letting weapons get into criminal hands? Digging deeper and speed reading everything he could he finally hit jackpot 10 minutes later and let out a silent whoop of joy. He had found it! Secret folders and more secret folder on things that should not be happening in SI. He lost himself in the investigation, horrified at what he was seeing and feeling dread at every new word he read. His heart wouldn’t stop racing, his hands got clammy and he had to focus to press the right keys so he wouldn’t miss a step due to their shaking. It was so much worst than he thought.

Tony kept at it for a few more minutes until he noticed two very important things:

  1. It all came back to Obie and what the hell was he fucking doing negotiating with fucking terrorists?
  2. When he reached the secret folder a silent alarm had gone off and warned Obie, who was on his way up right that instant.



He froze for a few seconds, breathing coming short until a tiny movement from Peter finally snapped him out of his schock.

“Pete!” he whispered urgently “Hide!”

Peter seemed to see his urgency and fear and scrambled to the hiding spot Tony had showed him, having already figured out how to work it. He hid just as Obie strode confidently into the office.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here!” his godfather spoke excitedly, and god, what a stab in the back was to know the man he looked up to most of his life was double dealing behind their backs. “Tony, my boy, what are you doing here? And in the middle of the night?” The cheer in his voice and the worry seemed so _real_.

“Well, you know… Had to check on one of my old projects and it’s kinda hard to do that, now that I don’t really work here,” he faked his way through the explanation, putting his press-smile on and hoping against all hope Obie believed him. But he knew it wouldn’t fly. He had to find a way out, fast, and not let Obie see or hear Peter at all. He discreetly took out his drive, -hiding his actions with the cover of the stack of papers that rested near his father’s computer-  and hid it in his slacks pocket, gulping down his fear. He pushed the table, making the wheelie-chair he was sitting on go back and further away from Obie as possible, without being too obvious about it. He quickly stood up and shoved his hands on his pockets so he could hide how bad they were shaking.

“Really now?” The big, _big_ man chuckled good-naturedly, and in the next second, his face turned hard, ruthless. He stalked backward to a side table by the door - and Tony’s only escape route-, full of the most expensive drinks. His big hands were occupied by a crystal decanter as he poured some of Howard’s expensive whiskey in an even more expensive glass. “Such a shame you stumbled upon some things you shouldn’t have. If it was just the b &a, I could’ve had you arrested.

“But you had to go snooping around and find my secondary business, didn’t you, _boy_ ?” he sneered, turning to Tony and sipping at his scotch. “Now I’ll have to get rid of you. Thought you had done that for me when your daddy kicked you out, and you escaped such a nice little plan I had to get rid of you…” He sighed, as if sad Tony had thwarted his evil plans. “I had to cancel the whole thing...” Obie said wistfully. “But no, you had to come back right in and try to fuck up with my plans and now I have to once again get rid of you. However, sweet _boy_ , this time I’m making sure you’re not coming back.

With a ominous click, Obie locked the door and smiled. During the big man’s tirade, Tony had backed himself against the window-wall and was silently praying to whatever power above Peter had found a way to warn the Police of what was going on there, silently, and that they had a bit more time.

But no such luck. With a speed no man Obie’s size had any business having, Obie trapped Tony by the window, holding him still by his throat, tightly. Tony struggled against the hold and scratched fiercely at Obie’s arm to try and escape, but nothing seemed to work.

“Such a shame you had to be all depressed and thought the best place to commit suicide would be at your daddy’s office. And by throwing yourself from a window! What will you poor mother think?” With a sinister smile, Stane somehow was able to break one of the wall glass-panels. The wind howled forcefully into the office, upturning papers and knocking down small objects all around. For the longest second there ever was they stood there, in a standstill. Obie moved his free-hand and held firmly at the wall support. “So long, dear _boy_ ”. And pushed Tony out of the window with all his strength, turning away to not see or be seen.

 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

Tony had always loved flying and the thrill it brought with it. Sometimes he used to go paragliding, parachute diving and bungy jumping, just for the exhilaration it gave him. But free falling from the 82nd floor with nothing to stop his fall only made him numb. He didn’t see all his life passing in front of his eyes, he did not feel fear, panic or regret. He knew he was going to die and resigned himself to his fate. He just sent a quick prayer for Peter, hoping he could escape.

He was falling, falling, falling. He should’ve hit the floor in fatal speed. He was falling, falling, falling. And then he wasn’t anymore. He was soaring up, up, up and all his fears, and the exhilaration of flying hit him head on, leaving him breathless and wide eyed in wonder and bafflement.

Holding him gently, one hand supporting his neck as if it was the most precious thing in the world and another holding his legs under his knees, was the Winter Soldier, as they flew toward the top of Stark Tower.

Reaching the helipad, and just by the access door, the Soldier deposited Tony delicately back to his feet. Tony was shivering all over, adrenaline coursing through his veins, a million thoughts running around his brains a million miles an hour. He tried to control his breathing as he clutched a hand in his shirt, right over his heart, trying to piece together he had just survived an impossible situation.

“Holy shit!” he exhaled forcefully. “Holy shit!” He hunched forward, bracing on hand hand on his knees, the other still clutched at his shirt.

“Are you alright, doll, ugh, sir?” a gruff voice asked, sounding muffled by the half mask the Soldier used. Tony looked up to his eyes and got lost on those blue, blue eyes.

And just like that, the most impossible thought occurred to Tony. He forgot all about his near death, Obie’s betrayal, Peter hiding, the world. Bucky, his Bucky was the Winter Soldier. He would know those beautiful, beautiful eyes anywhere, and here they were, staring right back at him. It all fit. All the bizarre comments Steve always dropped in the middle of conversations about self-sacrifice, being allowed to have nice things, stopping being afraid; all the dancing around each other for months they had been doing because Bucky was scared to get involved with Tony; the fear when Tony said he would find out all of Bucky’s secret; the face gymnastics that happened when he mentioned the hero/vigilante. And the endearment. Doll. Only Bucky had called him that, and Bucky had just spent the evening calling him that.

Holy shit, Bucky was the Soldier. And he had just saved him to boot. From a fatal fall. Because they flew. Tony had heard the rumours of the flying thing, and laser eyes, and super strength, and super speed. Sure, everybody said those things and he even wrote about them on his articles, but to actually witness it. Damn!

Blinking fast, Tony got upright and tried to scramble the mess of thoughts running down his head. Right. Priorities. He just survived an attempted murder and the perpetrator was going to run away! He would deal with his crush/potential boyfriend being a superhuman, superhero afterwards

He obviously had gaped and stared and stayed silent for too long, because the _Soldier_ (ha, Bucky!) was starting to fidget nervously as he waited for an answer.

“Yeah, yeah, just nearly died and shouldn’t have survived the fall or you picking me at the speed I was falling, my godfather just tried to kill me, but yeah, I’m just peachy,” he deadpanned.

“Okay...? I just made sure to be flying as fast as you were falling when I reached you so the impact of me picking you wouldn't break or neck or anything…” Bucky, t _he Soldier_ , curt himself abruptly, clearly trying to maintain his cover of never speaking much with the people he saved and/or arrested. He took a couple of steps backwards, point with his thumb just behind him. “So... I’m just gonna go and you know, help the police arrest the guy who tried to have you killed.”

“Wait!”

Bucky stopped moving and waited.

Damn, but Bucky was hot wrapped in all that leather. Absently, Tony thought there should be a cape there, somewhere. Superheroes were supposed to have capes! _Priorities, Tony!_

“So, hum, thank you, for, you know, rescuing from my certain death. Snowflake,” he thanked and smirked as soon as Bucky stiffened slightly when he heard the nickname. He would catch on fast to Tony’s catching on. “But how the hell did you know to come and rescue from the evil character, in my tower?”

Bucky narrowed his eyes slightly, but seemed to let go of whatever was going through his mind in order to answer Tony.

“We were just wrapping up with the robbery couple of blocks away when the Police received the distress call about an attempted murder going on Stark Tower. I flew straight here and saw you falling and here we are.”

“Oh. good. Peter was able to notice the police. Good.” Relief started to flood until he remembered he didn’t know what happened to the kid. “Hum, you said you were going down to help arrest-”

“Yes, from what I hear of the Police radio, when the perpetrator saw the police, he started running. But…” he stopped, and went over to the edge of the building to watch the scene down, down below. “Looks like they caught him.”

Tony stared at him, completely gobsmacked.

“You can actually see that well that far?”

“Huh… Yeah?”

“Holy shit! You know what, that’s not important. I have to get back down there and see if my photographer is alright and not dead by Obie,” he opened the stairs door and started running down as fast as he could so he could check on Pete. He could hear steps right behind him, signaling that Bucky was following him. “So, _Soldier_ , thanks again, but, you’re gonna be in trouble if they see you in here.”

“And what about you, Mr. Carbonell? I know you’re a famous reporter and you are always writing about me, but even you would be trespassing in here.”

“Good thing I’m a Stark, then!” Tony said cheerfully, leaving a gobsmacked Bucky behind.

 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

Tony found Peter still hiding in Howard’s office, unharmed, thank the gods. Just as they were leaving, Howard himself showed up. He was livid. But not at Tony, actually. Which just served to confuse him plenty.

Howard heard from the FBI agents (and did they get there fast!) what happened, what with being SI’s CEO and all, and got there as fast as he could. When he reached the Tower and saw Obie arrested he was very surprised, but nothing prepared him to find out someone had been thrown through the window. And when the Winter Soldier landed right by his side and said ‘Mr. Stark was safe and sound just inside the building’, Howard realized the man that could’ve died was his son.

He rushed upstairs to check and found Tony there. On an extremely rare case of displaying emotions, he embraced Tony as hard as he could, sighing in relief to know his only child was safe. Then the awkwardness hit and they let go of each other.

Tony and Peter explained how they saw Stark weaponry being used by the criminals on the robbery and how Tony had to get to the bottom of it ASAP. Tony also told his father about all the double dealing he found out about and how he would expose Obie for that. Howard asked, actually asked!, him to hold up on the article because that was not the best way to go about this. He decided on a Press conference on the morning and would give Tony an exclusive on the matter.

He even went as far as say he was proud of Tony and admitted to having been wrong about cutting him off completely. The awkwardness level returned with vengeance and only Peter accidentally dropping a snow globe he was holding permitted them to break the bizarre meeting and go their separate ways.

Howard actually insisted on Tony coming back home, but he refused, actually planning on calling Bucky over so they could talk about the whole saving his life issue and the double identity thing.

 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

As soon as he got home, Tony texted Bucky, inviting him over. Normally, Tony knew Bucky would never do such a thing, but since Bucky had just saved his life, he would probably show up.

And show up he did, not 15 minutes later. Tony spent those agonizing 15 minutes clearing out the mess and making his hair presentable after all that wind.

When the doorbell rang, Tony took a deep breath and braced himself to expose Bucky and hoped against all else to still be able to try and date Bucky. He opened the door and got himself face-to-face with a very worried and nervous Bucky.

“Hey, come in,” he invited, stepping away so that Bucky could enter.

“Hey, doll.” Bucky said, with a half wave and entered the apartment.

“So, _snowflake_. I’m gonna to straight to the point. I figured out already you’re the Winter Soldier. Nope, let me finish, ok? So, it was very obvious once I saw you up and personal and saw those beautiful eyes of yours. Damn, but you blush pretty,” he smiled. “As I was saying, I know and I don’t care. I think it’s incredible what you do for this city and I’m really excited the guy I like is even more of a hero than what a thought and I would be honored if you still wanted to date me.”

Bucky’s face throughout his speech got more and more expressive and hope and happiness started to blossom there slowly. With a happy little smile, he approached Tony and started running a hand sweetly on his cheek.

“I would be beyond honored and happy to get to keep dating you, doll.”

He then proceeded to kiss the life-out-of Tony in the most amazing kiss there ever was.

 

Fin.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry about the rushed ending, real life kind of kicked me this past month and I nearly wasn't able to finish.  
> But I hope you were able to enjoy it!
> 
> Let me know if you wanna hear all the other things I planned for this story and didn't have time to finish as well as all the background I thought for this story.  
> Again, sorry for the rushed ending.


End file.
